Busting Brackets
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Big East Basketball: Ranking all 10 head coaches for 2019-20 season

By Joey Loose

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 23: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats shakes hands with head coach Ed Cooley of the Providence Friars after the game at the Wells Fargo Center on January 23, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 23: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats shakes hands with head coach Ed Cooley of the Providence Friars after the game at the Wells Fargo Center on January 23, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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DETROIT, MI – MARCH 18: Head coach Jordan of the Butler Bulldogs reacts during the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Little Caesars Arena on March 18, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI – MARCH 18: Head coach Jordan of the Butler Bulldogs reacts during the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Little Caesars Arena on March 18, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

8. LaVall Jordan (Butler)

The story of Butler is quite similar to the story of Xavier with a few exceptions. Both programs were promoted to the new Big East in recent conference realignment and have produced a handful of productive coaches for other programs (and an NBA team). However, the back-to-back national title game appearances for Butler shoved them onto the national stage.

By that point, LaVall Jordan was already a Big Ten assistant, though Jordan played collegiate ball at Butler twenty years ago. His coaching career began as an assistant under Todd Lickliter at Butler before following him to Iowa. Jordan then spent six impressive years under John Beilein at Michigan. In 2016, he got his first shot to run his own program at Milwaukee. His lone season (11-24) was not stellar, but Jordan couldn’t resist the chance to return home in 2017.

Two years into the Jordan era at Butler, there’s still some work to be done. He led the Bulldogs into the NCAA Tournament in his first season, but struggled to a 16-17 mark this past season, tying for last in the conference. With recruitment and adjustment, this Butler program has ever chance to flourish under Jordan. He does possess an impressive win over top-ranked Villanova but has yet to lead the Bulldogs to the top half of the conference.

We can’t judge Jordan on Milwaukee’s last-place finish since he barely had any time to rebuild that program. Jordan had been a hot name for the Butler job a few years earlier and is finally getting his shot to lead his alma mater. His lack of head coaching experience combined with last year’s less than stellar results put him in this position, though a bounce-back season could be in the cards for Butler.

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